FIFA 21 Reviews

The few positives do not outweigh the negatives. EA Sports continues to phone it in with the FIFA series while single-player gamers cry out for better options.

Pep Guardiola’s sky-blue wave swept away everything in front of it for two seasons in a row, racking up records left, right and centre, but fell well short in 2019/20 and surrendered the title to Jurgen Klopp’s rampant Liverpool side.

At its heart, FIFA 21 does a lot really well. However, it is also a mash up of incremental steps forward, baffling design choices, and seemingly ignored issues. It simply doesn't do enough to make the overall experience more enjoyable than it was last year.

A solid if uninspiring season awaits, as FIFA 21 sneaks a top half finish.

As the train keeps rolling along, continuing to deliver the annual glut of sports gaming goodness, the next title to enter our crosshairs is the usually dependable FIFA series. The stalwart footie franchise has long been one of EA’s primary cash cows, and this outing looks to be no exception. In a year that also includes a console generation shift, does the team over at EA Vancouver have enough in the tank to bridge the gap, while also giving the PS4 version the attention it deserves?

So, FIFA 21 doesn’t have any ground-breaking new modes or revolutionary gameplay innovations, but it doesn’t need them to impress. The plentiful tweaks to gameplay and AI, along with worthwhile new features spread across all primary modes, accumulate to make FIFA 21 a must-have for football fans. And if they’re planning on picking up a next-gen console in the near-future, there’s possibly even more for them to look forward to.

The new FIFA is as fun and irritating as its previous editions. Although there have been a few noticeable changes, the next decade for the series certainly does not start with a breakthrough.

FIFA 21 has thrown a lot of adjustments under the hood to help give players more tools than ever before. A lot of the casual players, however, may not take advantage of this. Something needs to be updated to the shooting model and not just the 1-on-1 matchups. The feeling of a soccer match is still fantastic, but it seems EA has put this in the back seat in favor of VOLTA. Even though the Career Mode offers a good bit of options and control, the focus still feels like it is on VOLTA and FUT in terms of game modes even though neither mode changed much. FIFA 21 is a great soccer experience for those who don't play these types of games often, but the limited mode selection and the overall feel of the game will leave a lot to be desired for yearly fans.

When the issues of a game are rolled and stomped by its greatness, then it’s something to invest on if you have some spare.

On the pitch, FIFA 21 remains the best it's ever been, but it's arguably not changed enough for longtime fans in almost any other way.

FIFA 21 is solid and still immensely playable, but very stale, and rather unnecessary.

FIFA 21 review for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. With the PS5 and Xbox Series X looming around the corner, EA has unsurprisingly opted to make FIFA 21 more of an incremental update rather than a fully-fledged overhaul of its annual series. As the final FIFA game to launch with a focus on PS4 and Xbox One, EA hasn’t added any major new features this time around, but a slew of adjustments and improvements add up to make the best and most complete FIFA yet.

FIFA 21 isn’t going to blow anyone’s mind, but it improves upon last year’s game in almost every area, with an enhanced Career Mode proving to be the highlight. Even if it doesn’t offer much that’s new, it’s the best football game we’ve had in years, and a fitting send off to a generation of FIFA games on Xbox One.

On the pitch, FIFA 21 is an incremental improvement over FIFA 20, but doesn't address some of the biggest issues with defending and the high-scoring matches this leads to. With Volta still missing a certain spark and Ultimate Team not really changing much, it's the Football Manager-inspired Career mode that takes the biggest step forward. It's still a good football game, but it feels like the real focus is on next-gen.

So, at the end of the day, FIFA 21 feels like a game with a ton of potential that’s being held back by its engine. Konami decided to take the year off and switch to Unreal. I can’t help but feel like EA really needs to do the same. For all the bells and whistles the team adds every year, the on-field product leaves so much to be desired.

FIFA 21 is about what you’d expect from a new FIFA release. Some quality of life improvements over the previous title though nothing that really signifies a leap in class from past games. That being said, the quality in the FIFA series is fairly high, giving EA Sports a nice cushion to fall back on every year. FUT maintains the same inherent issues as it did last year, despite some shiny new features. FIFA 21 is another serviceable, yet standard entry in EA Sports’ soccer/football simulation series.

For newcomers to the FIFA series, sprinting down the pitch and converting tight through-passes or high-arching lobs into game-winning scores is invigorating. Crowds go wild, the camera shakes to match the roaring intensity, and Paulo Dybala performs a backflip as his teammates whoop in excitement. Moments like this are fun and exhilarating, and you don’t need to follow the long-running series’ year-to-year adjustments to appreciate them – though seasoned veterans may be disappointed by the minor strides forward.

Since 1994, FIFA and PES (formerly ISS) have battled for first place in order to be recognized as the ultimate soccer simulator. Similar to the mighty rivalry of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, fans of the sport have been divided over which truly is the champion. Some argue that FIFA is the complete package due to the wealth of modes and licensed teams whereas others claim that PES is a more accurate depiction of the sport. However, with eFootball PES 2021 simply releasing a season update this year, more than ever heads have turned to FIFA 21. Which begs the question, is this the year when FIFA will be crowned the ballon d’or?

Through small tweaks and refinements, FIFA 21 plays as well as it has done in recent memory, but lacks the relatively big features that are usually used to justify a new version of an annually released game. Attacking is fun and fluid, defending is a real challenge and an art to master, but goalkeeping leaves a lot to be desired and the AI is inconsistent in several ways. Career Mode has received small enjoyable additions but has not seen the overhaul I’m still wishing for and feels like an opportunity missed, while Volta still struggles to prove its relevance. All in all, FIFA 21 is a year of small improvements with much to enjoy, but little to shout about.